November 23, 2014

The GOP
went to bed on Thursday night livid at President Barack Obama’s executive
actions that would shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.
They warned the president is setting up a “constitutional crisis,” panned his
actions as a “direct insult” to Americans and accused him of acting precisely
like the “emperor” he has said he is not.

But
congressional Republicans woke up on Friday morning with no clear legislative
response to the president and with their membership scattered across the
country on a 10-day Thanksgiving break. Meanwhile, Obama headed to Las Vegas to
begin selling his proposal to shield millions of young immigrants and some of
their family members.

The lack
of a unified response from the GOP risks further fracturing the party just as
Republicans prepare to take over Capitol Hill and attempt to prove themselves a
responsible governing majority. And Obama’s nationwide tour pitching his plan
threatens to blunt Republicans’ momentum and messaging heading into a long
holiday recess, exposing frustrations by both conservatives at a lack of
direction on how to respond to Obama’s moves and of party elders who worry the
GOP’s right flank will overreact to the immigration action with talk of
impeachment and government shutdowns.

Republicans,
for now, have offered little other than rhetorical criticisms and a variety of
suggestions not yet endorsed by GOP leaders: Block the president’s nominees;
take further legal action against the White House; zero out funding to
Department of Homeland Security agencies and dare Obama to exercise his veto;
or pass step-by-step immigration reform to override Obama’s executive actions.

(Also on
POLITICO: How Obama got here)

But GOP
leaders have declined to broadcast any plans as they take the temperature of
rank-and-file Republicans, who range in ideology from hardliners agitating for
a direct confrontation with Obama to deal-making centrists who fret a harsh GOP
overreaction will make it impossible to make bipartisan progress on anything
next year.

Though
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed that the new GOP
majority in his chamber will act in January against the president’s immigration
action, both he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are currently
subject to the whim of the House. The big question in Washington: Can House
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) both placate conservatives on immigration and
avoid a shutdown showdown with the president before Republicans even take
control of the Senate?

After
speaking with the president on Thursday afternoon, Boehner gave little away on
Friday morning other than unloading on Obama for “damaging the presidency
itself.”

“We’re
working with our members and looking at the options that are available to us,”
Boehner said. “But I will say to you: The House will in fact act.”

(Also on
POLITICO: Obama unites 2016 crowd)

McConnell
was equally vague on Thursday; he is “considering a variety of options.” And in
the vacuum of orders from GOP leadership, the variety and divergence of ideas
among members are only causing more splits in the party.

“I’m
worried that the House hasn’t reached an agreement,” fumed Sen. Jeff Sessions
(R-Ala.), a leading voice urging Republicans to take on Obama through the
budget process. “I have been uneasy that they have not reached a clear message
and decision about what they are going to do.”

One
popular option on the right is to immediately use the “power of the purse” to
limit funding for Obama to enact his immigration action, an avenue almost sure
to provoke a presidential veto or a stalemate with the Democratically
controlled Senate next month.

The
House Appropriations Committee is downplaying the effectiveness of this
approach, arguing that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency is
self-supported by fees from immigration applications — which means Congress
can’t “de-fund” this agency through a spending bill.

(Also on
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But
conservatives argue this position amounts to capitulation by Republicans and
suggest a creative fix: Attach a legislative rider to a funding bill that
limits how the fees can be spent.

“It
might require a minor legislative change. I don’t think that’s a real issue. I
think that’s taking counsel of your fears rather than boldly representing the
voice of the people and the Constitution,” Sessions said.

Then
there’s Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican who tried in vain to get
the House to act on its own immigration proposal earlier this year. He is
urging Republicans to push back against the president “respectfully.”

“We have
to try to lower the passion on this issue to get it done. I don’t think it is
beneficial for our country,” he said in an interview Thursday night. Obama
acted “strictly for political reasons, to try precisely to bait folks to say
things that frankly, most of the American people would find objectionable.”

A close
Sessions ally, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, has urged Republicans to block
confirmation of all nonessential presidential nominees beginning in 2015 when
they take over the Senate.

While
the GOP is vowing to use its control of the nomination process as a leverage
point in negotiations with the president, Republicans are also promising to be
responsible stewards of presidential confirmations as they take over Capitol
Hill.

“We’ve
got a duty to run the government apart from his executive action. And you need
people to run the government,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who last year
voted to advance some of Obama’s nominees that were controversial within the
GOP. “Every agency of government needs to be staffed with the appropriate
people. But that is a point of leverage you have.”

A bloc
of Republicans in both chambers is also still holding out hope that it can work
with the president next year on tax reform, authorizing military force against
the Islamic State and fast-tracking new trade deals. But there’s growing angst
among these deal-makers that the GOP’s immigration response will stop
bipartisan movement in those areas before it even begins.

“If it
seeps out onto other things, phooey on us. That would be responding to
immaturity with immaturity. It’s absolutely blowing an opportunity to show our
ability to govern if that’s the response that we take,” said one GOP lawmaker
of the potential for immigration to stifle the rest of Congress’s business.
“What you’re going to see McConnell doing is urging restraint. He’s already been
urging restraint.”

A
lawsuit has also been a popular suggestion among Republicans, perhaps as an
expansion of the House’s ongoing legal effort targeting the president’s
unilateral changes of Obamacare policy, which was officially filed on Friday.
This avenue would avoid the murmurs of a government shutdown that
confrontational spending riders elicit, but because the leadership hasn’t
settled on a path forward, members of the GOP are also careful not to rule
anything out before their leaders do.

“Everybody’s
exploring a lot of options. But I would prefer a way to go to court. And also
look at specific appropriations bills,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

McCain
and Graham, along with “Gang of Eight” Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida
and Jeff Flake of Arizona, have also suggested Republicans respond to the
president by passing immigration reform legislation, starting with border
security and ending with addressing the situation of the millions of
undocumented immigrants already in the country. This message infuriates
Democrats, given that those four senators and 64 others voted for a
comprehensive immigration bill just last year — though the House then refused
to consider that bill or its own comprehensive proposal.

Many in
the GOP are seeking a more swift reaction to the president than legislative
immigration reform will bring, but that may be the most effective way for
Republicans to override Obama. He even said as much on Thursday night.

“Congress
certainly shouldn’t shut down our government again just because we disagree on
this. Americans are tired of gridlock,” Obama said. “To those members of
Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better,
or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one
answer: Pass a bill.”

He then
lost no time pressing his message forward, traveling to Las Vegas Friday as
part of a national tour promoting his actions and making clear he planned to
take advantage of his momentum while Republicans dallied. Top aide Dan Pfeiffer
said on Friday that the administration would be “aggressive” with its plan of
attack.

“He will
make the case to the country — how it is consistent with past practice of
presidents of both parties,” Pfeiffer said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
“We will be making the case about what we did and for Congress to finish the
job.”